The Booklover and His Books

Booklover and His Books, by Harry Lyman Koopman

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Title: The Booklover and His Books
Author: Harry Lyman Koopman
Release Date: September 15, 2007 [EBook #22606]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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THE BOOKLOVER AND HIS BOOKS
[Illustration: From the Digestum Novum of Justinian, printed at Venice by Jenson in 1477. The type page of which this is a reduction measures 12-1/2 by 8-1/2 inches. The initials in the original have been filled in by hand in red and blue.
From the copy in the Library of Brown University]

THE BOOKLOVER AND HIS BOOKS
BY
HARRY LYMAN KOOPMAN, LITT.D.
LIBRARIAN OF BROWN UNIVERSITY
BOSTON THE BOSTON BOOK COMPANY 1917
Copyright, 1916, BY THE BOSTON BOOK COMPANY
THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, CAMBRIDGE, U. S. A.
TO THE AUTHORS AND THEIR PRINTERS WHO HAVE GIVEN US THE BOOKS THAT WE LOVE

PREFATORY NOTE
The following chapters were written during a series of years as one aspect after another of the Book engaged the writer's attention. As they are now brought together, the result is not a systematic treatise, but rather a succession of views of one many-sided subject. In consequence there is considerable overlapping. The writer hopes, however, that this will be looked upon not as vain repetition but as a legitimate reinforcement of his underlying theme, the unity in diversity of the Book and the federation of all who have to do with it. He therefore offers the present volume not so much for continuous reading as for reading by chapters. He trusts that for those who may consult it in connection with systematic study a sufficient clue to whatever it may contain on any given topic will be found in the index.
Most of these chapters appeared as papers in "The Printing Art"; two were published in "The Graphic Arts," and some in other magazines. The writer expresses his thanks to the proprietors of these periodicals for the permission to republish the articles in their present collective form. All the papers have been revised to some extent. They were originally written in rare moments of leisure scattered through the busy hours of a librarian. Their writing was a source of pleasure, and their first publication brought him many delightful associations. As they are presented in their new attire to another group of readers, their author can wish for them no better fortune than to meet--possibly to make--booklovers.
BROWN UNIVERSITY LIBRARY, Commencement Day, 1916

TABLE OF CONTENTS
BOOKS AND BOOKLOVERS 3 FITNESS IN BOOK DESIGN 9 PRINT AS AN INTERPRETER OF MEANING 14 FAVORITE BOOK SIZES 19 THE VALUE OF READING 28 THE BOOK OF TO-DAY AND THE BOOK OF TO-MORROW 33 A CONSTRUCTIVE CRITIC OF THE BOOK 38 BOOKS AS A LIBRARIAN WOULD LIKE THEM 44 THE BOOK BEAUTIFUL 49 THE READER'S HIGH PRIVILEGE 63 THE BACKGROUND OF THE BOOK 79 THE CHINESE BOOK 87 THICK PAPER AND THIN 92 THE CLOTHING OF A BOOK 97 PARCHMENT BINDINGS 102 LEST WE FORGET THE FEW GREAT BOOKS 104 PRINTING PROBLEMS FOR SCIENCE TO SOLVE 115 TYPES AND EYES: THE PROBLEM 120 TYPES AND EYES: PROGRESS 128 EXCEPTIONS TO THE RULE OF LEGIBILITY 134 THE STUDENT AND THE LIBRARY 139 ORTHOGRAPHIC REFORM 145 THE PERVERSITIES OF TYPE 152 A SECRET OF PERSONAL POWER 162 INDEX 171

THE BOOKLOVER AND HIS BOOKS

THE BOOKLOVER AND HIS BOOKS

BOOKS AND BOOKLOVERS[1]
The booklover is distinguished from the reader as such by loving his books, and from the collector as such by reading them. He prizes not only the soul of the book, but also its body, which he would make a house beautiful, meet for the indwelling of the spirit given by its author. Love is not too strong a word to apply to his regard, which demands, in the language of Dorothy Wordsworth, "a beautiful book, a book to caress--peculiar, distinctive, individual: a book that hath first caught your eye and then pleased your fancy." The truth is that the book on its physical side is a highly organized art object. Not in vain has it transmitted the thought and passion of the ages; it has taken toll of them, and in the hands of its worthiest makers these elements have worked themselves out into its material body. Enshrining the artist's thought, it has, therefore, the qualities of a true art